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Wednesday, 08.06.2014 / 4:50 AM

The Minnesota Wild skates into the Sunbelt in the first game of a back-to-back set, tonight facing the Phoenix Coyotes. The Wild is a single point behind Phoenix in the jam-packed Western Conference. It’s the second time on the season these two teams have met in Jobing.com Arena, with the Wild getting edged by the Coyotes, 2-1.

The Wild has rearranged its lines trying to supplement offense through its top three and make a more traditional checking unit to round out its forward group. The top two lines will remain the same as the previous game. Mikael Granlund will skate between Dany Heatley and Pierre-Marc Bouchard tonight. Kyle Brodziak will center Mike Rupp and Torrey Mitchell on a checking line.

Minnesota will use its forwards to try to get on the board first, as the Coyotes are 106-13-16 when scoring first under head coach Dave Tippett. The Wild will also look for strong special teams play. Minnesota has the sixth best penalty kill percentage in the NHL at 85 percent. The club is 7-2-0 in games played at Jobing.com Arena when it records a power-play goal.

On Tuesday, the Wild won in dramatic fashion, topping the Calgary Flames 2-1 in overtime at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota charged from behind when Jason Zucker scored the tying goal in the third period. He redirected a Devin Setoguchi pass past Joey MacDonald for his second-career goal. Zach Parise lifted the Wild in overtime with a high backhand on the man advantage. Parise took a pass from Koivu and placed it high over the Calgary netminder. Ryan Suter added assists on both goals.

The Coyotes topped the Vancouver Canucks on the road, 4-2, on Tuesday. The Coyotes were paced by Kyle Chipchura’s two goals (one an empty netter). Mikkel Boedker and Antoine Vermette added goals for the Coyotes.

Shane Doan is quickly approaching several franchise milestones. With 322 career goals, the Captain is now one goal away from tying Keith Tkachuk (323) for 2nd on the franchise’s all-time goals list behind Dale Hawerchuk (379). Doan also moved within three points of 800 for his career and within 20 points of Thomas Steen (817) for second place in franchise history behind Dale Hawerchuk at 929 points.

Phoenix International Raceway hosts a free ‘FanFest’ with the newly crowned 2013 Daytona 500®, Jimmie Johnson today at Westgate Entertainment District. Johnson will also be on ice tonight to drop the ceremonial first puck.

The Wild will wear its WHITE road sweaters tonight.

Ryan Suter netted his third, two-assist game of the season Tuesday and now has seven helpers in the last eight games, leading Minnesota with 11 assists on the year. He leads all NHL players in TOI/game at 27:39.

Niklas Backstrom is 4-1-1 in his last six starts with a 1.45 goals against average and a .943 save percentage allowing only one goal in each of the four victories. He is 6-5-0 with a 2.11 GAA and .939 SV% in 11 starts in Phoenix.

That’s what good teams do. They have different guys contributing, different guys bringing good hockey and momentum shifts to your team. You need different people finding ways to contribute.

- Yeo on all four foward lines

Forward Zenon Konopka will be tonight’s healthy scratch, along with defenseman Nate Prosser.

Cal Clutterbuck is on Injured Reserve with a lower body injury, as is Josh Harding as he deals with multiple sclerosis treatments..

D Zbynek Michalek skated in 22 games with Minnesota in 2003-04. RW Nick Johnson skated in 77 games with the Wild last season.

That’s what good teams do. They have different guys contributing, different guys bringing good hockey and momentum shifts to your team. You need different people finding ways to contribute.

Wild at Coyotes will be broadcast locally in high definition on FOX Sports North with a start time at 8:00 p.m. The game can be heard on KFAN 100.3 FM or online at Wild.com.

NHL and the NHL Shield are registered trademarks and NHL Mobile name and logo, NHL GameCenter and Unlimited NHL are trademarks of the National Hockey League. NHL and NHL team marks are the property of the NHL and its teams.